Relic: an object, custom, or belief that has survived from an earlier time but is now outmoded Oxford Dictionary
Elections don't work to effectively represent the diverse interests of voters, and they never did. No matter the voting system, a popularity contest every few years is an inadequate tool for securing wise and consistent "government of the people, by the people, for the people."
Below are few links, quotes and books to support this argument. But you probably already know from experience, as Winston Churchill famously said, "...democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
This website presents a new form of government that you can try in your own associations.
Future Governance is a new model based on participatory democracy, without elections. Every page on this website is dedicated to explaining and promoting this new model, expect for this one, which is a concise collection of criticism of elections.
"Electoral representation structurally restricts legislative power to a cognitively insufficiently diverse group. Their collective blindspots and biases lead to suboptimal governance outcomes. Sortition alone can sufficiently open up the range of cognitive profiles." - Hélène Landemore
“It is considered democratic that offices should be filled by lot, and oligarchic that they should be elective." - Aristotle
Elections "...reduce the people's participation in government to an absolute minimum, ensure power remains in the hands of those who already wield it, and force politicians to judge policies not on their merits but on their likelihood to win or lose votes." - David Van Reybrouck
"Voting as a way of choosing politicians dates to the 18th century, the time of the American and French revolutions, and there is little doubt that the leaders of these revolutions chose voting precisely as a means of exerting elite control over the political process." Tim Dunlop (source theguardian.com)
"...elected officials are not required to fulfill promises made before their election and are able to promote their own self-interests once elected, providing an incohesive system of governance." - Wikipedia